What was the best groupset?

I have a mate who rode XC Pro Micro Drive GG and it was pretty good.. I think.. :? It was on his Orange Elite [ver 1.0] which he broke [cracked the frame about a seatstay/seattube weld]..

I had XC Comp on my SM1000 with Gripshift [the giant wrist-breaking version] and it truly was the worst shifting I've ever had.. Accushift my *ss..

Poor mans XT was good

I aint really a flash git,
I have always liked the deore DX stuff (poor mans XT)- it was proper work horse gear and cheaper to replace than the more expensive XTII stuff , which I agree, if it was on the list I would vote for the XT stuff as it did have a nice finish on the later stuff and always shifted perfect.
So I vote for none of the above.

Unless you stick DX or XT on the list.

Ps. I have used a few suntour groupsets and to be honest they have been fine , just a bit clunkier on the gear changing.

I won't hear a word against XC Pro. The shifting was fantastic on all the bikes I ever built and sold with it, it was far better than XTII at the time. It had a superb build quality with very little plastic used anywhere. Every part was easily available as a spare, from cogs to bolts. The thumbies and front mechs where so good that many companies speced them on bikes that were otherwise shimano equipped, in fact there was a point where the XC Pro mech was the mech to have. The greaseguard meant that every component lasts and lasts, and this is why the pedals still demand such high prices on the bay. It was the grouppo that appeared on most of my childhood dream bikes, from the first RC 100 in the Ron Kit catalogue, the top Kona, Rockey Mountains, Merlins, Specialized Epic Ultimates and the Sugar City bike team Fat Chance bikes.
Sure the triggers where nasty, infact probably helped kill the company, but before then the grouppo had the build passion of campag and the functionality of Shimano-a winning combo I think.

I voted for the XTR because it was above the rest , but I had a xc pro group and it was fantastic . Muxt better looking than DX and XT .

And now I have re fitted some XC pro thumbshifters with a XTR rear mech for my everyday ride . I ahd them for 2 weeks now and after a few problems they work great . the shifting is so nice .

Although I voted for XTR, Suntour always had better front shifting than Shimano and were more innovative in many ways, they introduced the compact chainset before Shimano did. Their bearing components were better because of greaseguard and their brakes were better too.

Hard to understand how they lost the plot really.

except the xc pro , the rest was bad .

and it was a nightmare to get spares . broke my rear mech and it took me ages to find anotherone .

Who remembers X-1 with the Flouro coloured replacement brake levers, mech plates etc, nasty!

But then Shimano has to hold it's hands up to the whole Exage mountain, trail, country range. More plastic than Pam Anderson. The most fun was the plastic U brake with the plastic brake lever and the plastic brake blocks. Mine was replaced after the first run (shortly followed by the Biopace rings, loose balled BB, rusty steel front mech and plastic rear mech and the front plastic canti) and the less said about the combo brake levers and thumb shifters the better.

For pure class I would still love a Campag OR groupset, have to be the later one with proper thumbies and the alloy levers (and with a proper Elucid/Olympus crankset rather than the Cog based OR one)

For road bikes my vote goes for any Campag Record (with nice Daytona brakes), Shimano Sante closely followed by 600 then Mavic..

the Campa OR was real nice . I sold one not along ago , and I would have kept but was offered a lot of money for it . the chainset was special but nice .

On the road , I ll vote for mavic . shame they dont do them anymore .

pete_mcc":3ri57b1c said:

Who remembers X-1 with the Flouro coloured replacement brake levers, mech plates etc, nasty!

Click to expand...

Loads more here http://www.asahi-net.or.jp/~uc6y-ssk/special_24.html, you just can't understand anything

I think there is much positive to say on many groupsets.

A XTII groupset with thumbies and HG in combination with a nice steel frame is my #1 concept for all day use.

The RecordOR is probably the ultimate groupset ever made.

I have a Sachs groupset on my Verlicchi. Well, I can tell that is nice stuff too!

My vote will go to the XC Pro groupset though. For me it is not the shifting, looks, feel or whatever that make me vote for this groupset. It is the GreaseGuard feature. In todays world of trowing stuff away within the blink of an eye and consuming seems to be the main purpose in many peoples live, the concept of preserving what's good with this awesome GG feature is really appreciated by me.

Much respect!

(for WTB too, as it's their innovation )

- Melvin